Discussion:

Hmph.

I thought goats in tights looked more appealing to u when we ran in FP, back when it was cold :)

All of you probably looked attractive to the non-goats who witnesed you running in FP in tights.

Me like Intensivegympa:{)

Kat, nothing is wrong with a lot of Sweedish chicks in tights from my point of view.

See, coach says it's ok!

That is a class I used to go to in Uppsala. It is great. I does not seem to be anything like it here in Tennessee though :-(

You are training a lot! And it is still November... You will take my place from last year on one of the shorter legs in the 10-mila team next year if you continue like this and just avoid injuries.

Thanks, Mats! But I think my night-O skills still leave a lot to be desired... How is the trail map you found coming along? Will you actually make it orienteerable?

It will improve. Keep your compass in a firm grip and make sure to always have a plan how to get to the control. In the daylight you may just run and use whatever comes in your way to get back on track, but in the darkness... you will be lost!

I think the map I found was not too bad. Obviously the countour lines are just taken from the USGS maps, but anyway I think I will make something out of it. By the way, do you need some kind of permit to make a map in this country? In Sweden a map needs to be approved before it is published to ensure that there are no secret military objects on the map and you guys do not seem to take national security less serious.

You can make a map of whatever you want, in general, no permit needed. The main thing to be aware of though is trespassing on private property. If it's a state park or a national forest or something, it shouldn't be a problem.

If you go wandering through private property (or say, government property like a military base.) Even way out in the forest, people make show up and ask you to leave. And then may bring along their rifle to make sure you leave. And even non-military private property owners may carry a rifle when they ask you to leave.

Now that I've given you the warning - I'll note that is the extreme case. It doesn't happen very often that far-in-the-forest private property owners get upset about trespassing -mostly because they'll never know you're there - but it can happen. But it's their right to kick you off the property, unlike in Sweden, where I think you can run around in the forest almost anywhere, as long as you don't go to close to houses (right?)

Despite that private property rule, many, (and perhaps even most) orienteering maps in the US have private property mapped along the edges of whatever public area is mapped, and courses occasionally go through these areas, and most of the time nobody cares. I think we even ran through a bit of private property at the Long O' Championships, where a mowed path through some dark-green might have crossed the line (although clearly, many park users aside from orienteers also used that bit of private property.)

Note that publically-accessable areas, like apartment complexes or a shopping mall could be mapped too, and you could probably run around on those maps (by yourself, or with a few people) without much trouble - but getting permission to use an area like that for a large event might be very difficult.